SHE’S STILL NOT ANSWERING HER TEXTS AND CALLS.

Hae Soo couldn’t help but sigh.

It’s really unusual for Ji Yeon not to answer her calls and texts. The last time she saw and talked to her was when she dropped by her condominium unit just to drop a bouquet of roses yesterday and that’s it, she didn’t pick up her calls or replying to her chats and texts. Ji Yeon only reads them but she never got a reply.

Hae Soo couldn’t help but sigh

She really misses Ji Yeon so much.

“Why the long face?” Hae Soo’s gaze settled on Min Ah who finally picked a bag that suits her taste. They’re currently strolling around Fifth Avenue doing their favorite cousin bonding—shopping. Yes, they’re certified shopaholic—no, Min Ah is the shopaholic one. Hae Soo just loves to stroll around looking for some limited edition items for Ji Yeon. Yes, that how she loves the girl so much. “Ji Yeon-ee is still not replying to you?”

“She’s not even answering my calls. She’s reading my texts but she couldn’t even send a single reply, even just a period or an emoji,” Hae Soo blew her baby bangs frustratingly.

“Maybe she’s just busy. She just did it today, right? Maybe she’s just busy running errands for her mom. Just calm your tits, Lee Hae Soo,” Min Ah shook her head while looking at some shoes. “Anyway, I forgot to ask this last night? Who’s that guy? The one with the orange hair and broken specs? You seemed close. Is there something between you two?”

Hae Soo heaved a sigh as she slightly fixed the sleeve of the retro green set that she’s wearing, ignoring Min Ah who’s now looking at her mischievously while wiggling her eyebrows. “Do I really have to answer your nonsense questions, Lee Min Ah?”

“Yes, you have to because you just ruined my awesome night with supposed to be my date last night because of your sudden phone call commanding me to call the cops like seriously, you scared the shit out of me because of that and you should be thankful that I did called the cops to save your ass. So in exchange, you’re going to tell me what happened last night,” Min Ah crossed her arms over her chest and quirked her eyebrows.

“Okay, fine so you can stop bothering me. I was so damn pissed last night because some fella stole my jamming schedule at Wesley’s. You know that my sched is 8p.m., right? But then, that orange-haired fella who’s wearing spectacles bigger than his eyes stole my schedule so he’s the one who performed last night.”

“Ah, so he’s the guy who sung last night? Not to offend or annoy you, *sachon but he really do have a nice voice—no, not nice that’s so understatement. He really do have an awesome voice. He could even pass as the fifth member of Michaelangelo and be their main vocal—no, not their main vocal because the one and only main vocal for us is Ryu Jin—he could pass as the lead vocalist,” Hae Soo rolled her eyes as she shook her head when Min Ah is now on her dreamy, fangirling mode while babbling some words she didn’t bother to listen. “So then, what happened to the both of you after that?” (*sachon means ‘cousin’)

“I just confronted him about stealing my schedule at Wesley’s but we got an unexpected encounter with some thugs and he saved me and ended up wounding himself,” the former shrugged as she got some bags and accessories for Ji Yeon, smiling to herself as she’s imagining Ji Yeon’s sweet smile and happy face once she’ll see her gifts.

“Oh. My. Gosh. So that guy became your hero? It’s like you’re a female main character in a webtoon and he’s your leading man who kept on saving you. Gosh! I wished I saw that! Kyaah!” swooning over Hae Soo’s encounter with the orange-haired guy named Kyoong, Min Ah kept on shaking and slapping her cousin’s arm like the usual fangirl she is, making Hae Soo wince and hiss because of pain. “You even helped him aiding his wound up and you even asked his name. That’s not so you, Lee Hae Soo. The Hae Soo I know will never, ever do such thing. Is the Ice Queen’s heart already melting? Do you like him, that orange-haired guy named Kyoong?”

“You know what, Lee Min Ah, just shut up and let’s pay now,” ignoring her cousin’s cringy giggles, Hae Soo sashayed her way to the counter.

I wonder what I did in my past life that God gave me this annoying, crazy thing I call Lee Min Ah. Goodness. I’m gonna lose my sanity because of her.

When she reached the counter, she puts the designer dresses, pumps, stilettos and bags and gave her debit card to the cashier.

As the cashier swiped her card, the latter suddenly frowned in confusion and looked at her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but I think there’s something wrong with your card. Our machine can’t detect it. Do you have any card aside from this?”

Hae Soo stared at the cashier blankly and fished her wallet out and gave her other debit cards. “Here. Try these.”

The blond cashier nodded and swiped all her debit cards but none of those were detected by the machine. “I’m sorry ma’am but our machine can’t detect your payment using your cards. Do you have any cold cash to pay your purchase?”

“Are you serious?” she frowned at the cashier.

“What’s wrong?” she turned to Min Ah who’s now beside her, holding the bags and stilettos she’ll going to purchase.

“Their machine can’t detect my debit cards,” she answered and faced the cashier. “I think there’s nothing wrong with my cards because I just used it yesterday. I think the problem is in your swiping machine.”

“The company upgraded our machine today, ma’am, so we’re sure that there’s nothing wrong with our machine and I think your debit cards got froze,” the cashier said.

Hae Soo’s eyes widen. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Her parents always, always let her do what she wants so even if she’ll splurge money, they didn’t mind. It’s very unusual for them to freeze her debit cards for no reason.

That so not like them.

She turned her head to Min Ah. “Can you pay my items for me, Min Ah? I’ll pay you later. I’ll just call my dad.”

“Sure, no problem,” Min Ah smiled at her as she lend her debit card to the cashier.

Hae Soo walked towards the corner of the boutique where they shopped and dialed her mom’s number. It took her four rings before her mom could pick up. “Hey, mom. Can I ask you something?”

“Oh, Hae Soo. Good thing you called. I was about to call you and it’s a good timing you called before I could do so,” Hae Soo couldn’t help but crease her brows. It’s the first time her mom sounds so casual yet uptight and it’s very unusual that her mom didn’t call her ‘uri ttal’ and ‘uri aegiya’. Instead, her mom called her using her name and it’s too formal to her liking.

It gave her major goosebumps.

She totally forgot about the problem with her debit cards and asked her mom directly. “Why? What’s wrong?”

She could hear her mom sigh and it took her few seconds to respond. “Hae Soo, I think it’s already time.”

“What is it, mom?”

“It’s already time for you to go back to Korea… and talk to us about this matter."